Agency's Problems Not Subject To Quick Fix

KINGSLEY GUY EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

August 16, 2002|KINGSLEY GUY EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

The deaths of children in the care of the state's social services agency were a big issue during the race for governor. Indeed, the Republican candidate had made social services reform one of his major campaign themes.

No, I'm not talking about the 1998 campaign, when Jeb Bush ran against then-Lt. Gov. Buddy MacKay on a pledge to reform the Florida Department of Children & Families.

I'm talking instead about the 1986 gubernatorial contest. From Pensacola to Key West, GOP nominee Bob Martinez blasted the Democratic administration of Bob Graham for gross mismanagement of the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, as Florida's social service agency was called back then.

Democrats were careful not to criticize Graham directly, but those seeking the gubernatorial nomination knew the Republicans had an issue, so they campaigned on HRS reform themselves.

Fast-forward four years. Gov. Martinez is running for re-election against former U.S. Sen. Lawton Chiles. So what was one of the themes Democrat Chiles used against his Republican foe? You guessed it: Incompetence at HRS. Chiles declared that when elected, he would fire HRS chief Gregory Coler, whom he blamed for the disastrous performance of the department.

In 1995, HRS was again at the center of controversy, this time under the leadership of Chiles appointee Jim Towey, one of the nicest people to ever occupy a high state office. In fact, he was so nice he was eaten alive by the political piranhas of state government.

Towey was a devout Catholic who had worked with Mother Teresa and sought to apply her compassionate approach toward humanity to the HRS bureaucracy and the political establishment.

Compassion is vital to helping the poor in the streets of Calcutta, but it can be a liability in Tallahassee. Republicans blamed Towey for the problems at HRS, and after 20 months the GOP-controlled Senate made Towey the first gubernatorial appointment in a generation not to be confirmed for a job.

I relate all this Florida history because of the resignation Tuesday of Kathleen Kearney as head of the Department of Children & Families. She's the latest in a long line of social services chiefs whose tenure in Tallahassee collapsed in controversy.

Kearney's resignation came after reporters at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel were able to locate children whom DCF considered missing. The news stories were more than an embarrassment to the Bush administration, which had endured a series of embarrassments from DCF. They were proof of gross managerial shortcomings at the agency.

Kearney, a former juvenile court judge in Broward County, has always been a sincere and dedicated public servant who had the best interest of children at heart.

Leading a multibillion-dollar agency, however, requires more than good intentions. It requires managerial expertise, and as skeptics pointed out at the time of her appointment, Kearney lacked this experience.

Next up is Jerry Regier, a former Oklahoma Cabinet secretary for social services. Gov. Bush appointed him on Thursday to head DCF. Unlike Kearney, Regier has a managerial background in government. You can bet he'll be working overtime for the next few months, lest DCF become an even bigger election liability for his boss, the governor.

There will be no quick fix, however. The social services problems of Florida have defied solutions for the last generation, under both Democratic and Republican administrations and legislatures.